Governor Jim Justice announced that, 11 months through Fiscal Year 2022, year-to-date collections of more than $5.225 billion are a record $1.107 billion above the YTD estimate and 16.3% ahead of last year, breaking the all-time state record for total collections through the month of May.
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This marks the first time in state history that cumulative collections have ever exceeded $5 billion at any point on the calendar, with another month still remaining in this fiscal year.
“I hate to sound like a broken record but we have ANOTHER broken record!†Governor Justice said. “Celebrating records never gets old, especially when it comes to our revenue collections.â€
West Virginia’s General Revenue collections for May 2022 came in at $113.8 million over estimate.
May saw additional state records broken for personal income tax collections.
Personal income tax collections totaled $181.7 million. Monthly collections exceeded estimates by roughly $35.5 million. YTD collections of roughly $2.270 billion were a record $430.5 million above estimate and 16.2% ahead of prior year.
Severance tax collections totaled a record $92.7 million. Collections were $62.4 million above estimate and 295.5% ahead of last year. YTD general revenue fund severance tax collections were $358.2 million above estimate and $430.0 million ahead of last year. YTD general revenue fund severance tax collections were 197.3% ahead of last year.
Corporation net income tax collections of $13.8 million were $5.3 million above estimate and 46.2% ahead of last year. YTD CNIT was $159.3 million above estimate and 46.9% ahead of prior year adjusted receipts.
Consumer sales tax receipts of $150.7 million were $24.7 million above estimate. YTD collections were $150.6 million above estimate and 7.4% ahead of prior year.
Insurance premium tax collections were $1.3 million above estimate and 208.9% ahead of prior year. YTD collections of $134.9 million were $9.0 million above estimate and 15.0% above prior year.
Governor Justice also announced that West Virginia reached the 2nd-highest export growth rate of any state in the nation for 2021.
Meanwhile, the Governor’s Roads To Prosperity program is the state’s largest-ever investment in road maintenance and improvement; after 50 years of neglecting its roads, the state has committed more than $2 billion dollars to fixing them.
Teachers and state employees have received their two largest pay raises ever, and a third pay raise has been proposed. The state’s Rainy Day Fund now exceeds $1 billion – another record – and its public pension funds are better-funded than they have been in decades. ■